Ascension and Coronation

 He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

            Ascension Day is two weeks away—Thursday, May 21. I’m thinking about recording a service for it. In terms of the church’s calendar, it’s kind of a big deal. Unfortunately, in practice, it’s a bit overlooked. (We usually just sort of mush it together with the seventh Sunday of Easter.)

            What is it that makes the Ascension a big deal? It’s a strange little celebration. I mean, why would you celebrate Jesus going away? In this weekend’s Gospel lesson (John 14:1-14) Jesus tells His disciples why His going away is a good thing. “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus goes away because He has work to do—not the work of saving us, that was accomplished on the cross—but the work of preparing a place for us.

            That’s more than a housekeeping task, though! It’s not like He’s just getting clean sheets on the bed and making sure the dusting is done. Paul describes it in Ephesians like this:

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church (Ephesians 1:19-22)/

Jesus’ ascension is His coronation day. He returns from His exile away from the Father and takes His rightful place as king of the universe. (I think technically we might want to describe Him as prime minister or grand vizier, but that gets us into the complexities of Trinitarian theology.)

            The point is that to sit at the right hand of God is to share all of His power and authority. The song that we know as “This is the feast” is a quote from Revelation 5, and it describes Jesus’ ascension but seen from a heavenly perspective. For Jesus to sit at the right hand of God is to be declared “worthy…to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12) in the same way that the Father received them in a similar song in chapter 4.

            So, on Ascension, Jesus takes His place as king and receives the adulation of heaven and earth. But one more detail from Ephesians: He exercises that rule for the sake and benefit of His church. He is preparing the heaven and the earth for the great day when in His person heaven and earth are brought back together, when all evil is eradicated, when the curse of Genesis 3 is ultimately undone and all things are made new. Surely that is a big deal! Surely that’s worth a celebration!